How could you hide a train for 70 years? What do we know about the people who
claim to have found something? What could the find look like?

How did the “gold train” legend begin?

Not long after the war a Pole spoke with a German miner who was about to leave the area because it was to become part of post-war Poland. The miner spoke of how a train laden with treasure had been parked in a secret siding in the last days of the war. Since then people have been looking for that train. There is no documentary evidence supporting the “gold train” legend.

The Nazis, and in particular Hermann Goering, amassed vast fortunes in treasure stolen from their victims Photo: Getty Images

Have they found the train at last?

It appears that something has been found but that could be a number of things. It could be an old train that got buried in a tunnel years ago. It could be abandoned rolling stock. Or it could be a train laden with treasure that the Nazis left in a tunnel. Why they would do this, is not clear. The locomotive broke down, perhaps? Did the Allies bomb the track?

How could you hide a train for 70 years? Trains are big things.

During the war the Germans dug miles of tunnels into the hills and mountains around Walbrzych. Historians differ on why this was done. Some say they were creating a secret command centre, others say they were underground factories for weapons, while others claim the tunnels were research sites for the atom bomb project. But there are tunnels: some of them very big. At the end of the war the Germans flooded or blew up a number of them. As a result not all the tunnels have been explored.

But if there have been rumours of a train for years, what is so special about this time?

This is the first time that somebody has actually said “I have found something” and taken legal steps to support their claim. In the past there have only been rumours.

It is alleged that the train vanished near Ksiaz Castle in Walbrzych, Poland, which was the local Nazi HQ during WWII Photo: AFP/Getty

What do we know about the people who claim to have found something?

Simple answer: very little. One is German, who is reported to be living in Walbrzych, and the other is a Pole. That is all we know so far.

What could the find look like?

From what we can gather we are not looking at a Howard-Carter moment when a wall is broken down and treasure revealed. If there is a train, it seems it could well be buried, and digging it out could take months.